About Us / Markegard Family Grass-Fed History:

Raises Animal Welfare Approved beef and dairy cattle. Direct on farm sales, bulk and buying club. Weekly buying club deliveries around the Bay Area. Bulk shares offered couple times per year.\nCall or email the farm. Further details on the website (www.markegardfamily.com) \n\nErik and Doniga Markegard raise Animal Welfare Approved grassfed Belted Galloway and Black Angus cattle in Half Moon Bay, CA. Erik started his own cattle ranch in 1985, but his family has been farming for six generations! And as a sixth generation cattle rancher, having a family owned and operated farm is extremely important. Erik and Doniga strive to include their kids in the business and hope to pass the family business on to the next generation.\n\nThe Markegards are proud of their watershed stewardship and they consider keeping the soil and water clean to be foremost priorities in their farming practices. They don’t use any herbicides or pesticides and they treat their animals humanely. Doniga says, “Improving wildlife biodiversity is also very important to us. I come from a wildlife background. We think it’s important to have wildlife corridors and to use the cattle as a tool to improve wildlife habitat.” \n\nWhen asked why they decided to become Animal Welfare Approved, Doniga said, “I just believe in all the practices and it’s free,” she laughs. Doniga goes on to say, “It’s great to have the label, but at this point in time we don’t necessarily need any value-added because we sell out of our product immediately. But I’m looking towards the future. I know more and more people are asking for verification of farming practices. It’s really important to have as many certificates of authenticity as possible. We want to show our customers that we’re truly authentic.” \n\nIn addition to selling to local restaurants, the farm’s beef is sold direct from the farm, through a weekly or monthly buying club and also in bulk a couple times each year. You can visit the Markegard Family Grass-Fed Farm during its seasonal farm days. Look for details and dates for the farm days on the Animal Welfare Approved Facebook page and AWA’s “upcoming events” page.\n